> doesn't mean we can't make fun of Hasbro for acquiescing to the demands of an offended minority.

To be honest, I've seen so much "See? We are deliberately pandering to you, Brony crowd!" this season that I almost wonder if certain elements within Hasbro even remember that the target demo is, in fact, girls ages 4-8.

While Hasbro will likely never release hard data on the subject, I'm quite certain that, even considering the higher dollar value per unit of the average licensed-but-not-Hasbro piece of merch sold to teens and adults through non-traditional channels (eg: Welovefine, Hot Topic, etc), the sheer volume of traditional merchandise purchased for girls age 3-8 by their parents at the pink aisle of traditional department stores (brushables, playsets, Rarity's Royal Gem Carriage with a bonus Star Swirl (WTF???) and a cardboard cutout of Twilight in the back, etc) must vastly outweigh the economic value of the former by at least several order of magnitude.

Or, put another way, the number of squealing little girls in the world is so much larger than the number of people who might self-associate with the "brony" moniker, that for every $1 we spend, haggard parents spend at least $1,000. We are an interesting cultural phenomenon, but not a significant economic engine when considered at scale.

I never said anything about a decline in quality. If anything, I'm excited to see S4 exceeding my expectations!

I just feel a tad awkward when I see a "Look, we're hip to Gen-X pop culture trends, too!" joke thrown into the show, given how much critical attention said fanbase already attracts for diluting what many feel "should" be the show's principal target demographic.